


Soft Spoken Serpent

by blizzard



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Drabble, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Self Harm ?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 03:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11095698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blizzard/pseuds/blizzard
Summary: Bruce makes the same mistake for the second time, and he can't clear his conscience of it.





	Soft Spoken Serpent

Bruce slammed his fists down on the sink, knocking the soapbar out of it’s tray. God _dammit._ He had told himself he wasn’t going to do this again. The last time was the first time; it was supposed to be the only time. He had promised himself. He roughly dragged his hand down his face as he tried to calm his breathing. What would Alfred think if he knew? Bruce peered over his fingers and looked into his bloodshot eyes in the mirror. The bags under his eyes reminded him of Joker’s―

 _No_. Bruce wasn’t going to use his name. He wasn’t going to use his name, because he just wasn’t going to think about him at all. Not of him, and not of what had just happened between them for the second time. The second fucking time! Bruce clawed through his hair, still wet from sweat. As his hand moved, he caught a scent that wasn’t his: a mixture of ash, alcohol, salt, and something disgustingly sweet, like cheap peach perfume.

Bruce put his hand over his mouth to stifle his gag, but putting his hands anywhere near his nose only aggravated his nausea. Bile spilled from his mouth into the sink and he coughed, trying to catch his breath. God _dammit_. Bruce turned on the faucet to wash down the mess and rinsed his mouth. He shoved his face under the water as best he could before he realized that the shower was three feet away from him. A much better alternative. Bruce tore off the rest of his suit on his way to the tub and flung the knobs back as far as they could go. The hotter the better, in his opinion.

As soon as the steam rose to escape the pipes and fog the glass, Bruce stepped into the scalding water, trained not to flinch from pain. He wanted to feel it; he deserved it after what he’d done with… with _him_ ; his breath on his skin had felt hotter than the water coloring him an angry red. 

Disgusting, vile, that’s what Bruce was. He wouldn’t feel clean no matter how long he stood under the boiling stream. What had dirtied him had seeped far deeper into his hair, his hands, his bones, his lips.

His lips.

Bruce licked the hot water from them and swallowed. His hand found the spot on his neck _he_ had bitten ―drawn blood. The wound ached, and Bruce was glad that it did. For him to ever indulge in what he had… of course it had to hurt. Give and take. Deep down, Bruce had wanted something from him, and he gave it to him, but not without taking something back.

Indulgence; it wasn’t indulgence. Indulgence was the wrong word. It wasn’t something that Bruce had lusted over, moreso the possibility had always dangerously dangled in front of him. The wispy _what if?_ that wafted around whenever Bruce was around him. It beckoned him; and he had been curious. Last time he had finally submitted, tired of being so close to the fruit without ever a taste. He should’ve known better; Eve should’ve been the icon that deterred him, but like her, he took the leap, and _oh,_ how sweet it had tasted.

Bruce swallowed again, his tongue running along his teeth. It had hurt, and he wouldn’t say if it had been worth it, but the taste of just _knowing_ was sweet in itself. His curiosity sated, and now familiar with it, he felt a dependence forming on it, as he was a creature of habit. There weren’t many things on this Earth that Bruce didn’t know about or was unable to uncover, and the less he knew about things, the more helpless he felt. Now he knew, the best and the worst of what he had done, what he could do, and he no longer felt helpless, if not disgusting.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Hope you all liked my drabble. This was just a freewrite to explore more of comics Batman's personality and how he would deal with starting a physical relationship with the Joker. I just finished reading Europa, so I was inspired.


End file.
